It's easy to be dismissive of these ideas, but there is an
  extensive and rigorous literature on network topology and
  dynamics.

Parenting through rigorous literature on network topology and dynamics?

  Arguing on the basis of your own developmental experience
  in which significantly different conditions obtained (eg
  the non-existence/availability of social media or the
  internet) is equivalent to just wishing the problem away.

Actually, it was a description of having fixed the problem, because it wasn't as much of a problem as people believe beforehand through network topology that simulates k-12 social circles. When parents love their children, talk to them, are privy to their kids' social circles, and make decisions in the best welfare of their children, those children are able to recover from the intense loss of missing what Stacy posted last night.